2011-03-12

Amid all the excitement brought over live reporting from and about the Chinese National Congress on Weibo 微博, the equivalent of Twitter in China, Weibo micro-bloogers have been very active in commenting and criticizing members of the Chinese Congress.
According to the French daily Paper Le Monde, the very high number of tabloid celebrities, rich businessmen member of the National Chinese Congress has not gone unnoticed and has been sarcastically "welcomed" by many Weibo micro-bloggers. The one child policy has also been discussed and it seems many bloggers are asking for relaxed rules.

What has been noticeable, however, in view of recent events in the Middle East including the blocking of certain words on Weibo's service such as 埃及、茉莉花 (Egypt, Jasmine) is the increased sums of money allocated to public security and the administration of Justice. For the first time these sums have overtaken the budget's portion allocated to the Army, which itself has seen its amount go up by 12.7 from last year when it had also been continuously increased year on year.
The question remains whether these increased spendings in security and defense will actually stop what Chinese leaders fear could be a contagion from democratic protests in the Middle East. Chinese leaders are aware, one hopes, that social unrest stems from deep dissatisfaction resulting from unbalanced development. The gap between the rich and the poor, the increased pollution depriving many villages of their means of living and the recent huge increase in food products prices have been recognised as main causes of unrest. Premier Wen Jiabao 溫家寶 did say words to this effect in his speech to the Congress.
It remains to see whether this realistic vision will be carried out soon enough so that the monies allocated to security and justice will become unnecessary.
This fear of Middle East unrest is probably unjustified. Rapid changes or so-called revolutions, peaceful or not, always start from unexpected corners. And nobody is able to predict where from. This is why they are called revolutions.